Material for making bicycle frames

ABSTRACT

A material includes 94% of Aluminum, 0.01 to 0.19% of Scandium, and addition alloys which can be Magnesium alloy, Manganese alloy, Silicon alloy, Copper alloy or Nickel alloy. The material can be extruded to be desired shapes of solid or hollow tube and the variety of addition alloys provide the material various features.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates to a material that is light in weight and has good strength and can be extruded to be desired shape.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] A conventional bicycle frame generally is made by steel, aluminum alloy, carbon fiber composite material or even titanium alloy. Nevertheless, some of the material such as titanium alloy is expensive and is difficult to be machined so that only some parts of the bicycle employ the titanium alloy. Carbon fiber composite material needs a lot of complicated processes to form a desired shape and it is also expensive. Manufacturers still develop different alloys that can be used to conveniently make bicycle frames, and more particularly, the new material should be easily to be extruded and machined while still has good strength.

[0003] The present invention intends to provide a new developed material that can be extruded and allows other elements to be added to involve desired physical features.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0004] In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a new material that includes 94% of Aluminum, 0.01 to 0.19% of Scandium, and addition alloys which can be Magnesium alloy, Manganese alloy, Silicon alloy, Copper alloy or Nickel alloy.

[0005] The primary object of the present invention is to provide a material that can be extruded to be desired shapes of solid or hollow tube and includes 94% of Aluminum, 0.01 to 0.19% of Scandium, and addition alloys which can be Magnesium alloy, Manganese alloy, Silicon alloy, Copper alloy or Nickel alloy.

[0006] The present invention will become more obvious from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings which show, for purposes of illustration only, a preferred embodiment in accordance with the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ATTACHED CHART

[0007] Chart 1 shows the comparison between variety of aluminum alloys and the material of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0008] The new material of the present invention comprises at least 94% of Aluminum, 0.01 to 0.19% of Scandium, and addition alloys which can be Magnesium alloy, Manganese alloy, Silicon alloy, Copper alloy or Nickel alloy. The Magnesium alloy, the Manganese alloy, or the Silicon alloy makes the material to have better structural strength. Copper alloy may make the material to be light in weight so that the material can be used to make parts of airplanes.

[0009] Besides, the Copper and Nickel alloy makes the material to have a feature that bear high temperature. Also, the Silicon alloy has the same function as the Copper and Nickel alloy.

[0010] In order to allow the material to be suitable for being extruded, the new material of the present invention comprises at least 94% of Aluminum, 0.01 to 0.19% of Scandium, and 5% of Zinc which is helpful when the material is to be extruded to be solid or hollow tubes.

[0011] Chart 1 shows the comparison between variety of aluminum alloys and the material of the present invention. In the chart, the material of the present invention involves several improvements in the listed items when compared with the aluminum alloys.

[0012] While we have shown and described the embodiment in accordance with the present invention, it should be clear to those skilled in the art that further embodiments may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A material comprising at least 94% of Aluminum, 0.01 to 0.19% of Scandium, and 5% of Zinc.
 2. A material comprising at least 94% of Aluminum, 0.01 to 0.19% of Scandium, and addition alloys.
 3. The material as claimed in claim 2, wherein addition alloys include Magnesium alloy, Manganese alloy, Silicon alloy, Copper alloy or Nickel alloy. 